Abstract [en]

The Serbian Air Defence shot down a small number of airplanes during the Kosovo War. Even so, it turns out that NATO’s air operations were indirectly affected a lot by the Serbian Air Defence. The purpose of this dissertation is to problematize and define the term of indirect effect in the context of air defence and to apply it to an authentic conflict.

The dissertation consists primarily of two interrelated studies. The first is an investigative study that culminates in a definition of the term indirect effect. Thereafter, a case study on the Kosovo conflict is used to concretize and exemplify the indirect effect. This conflict was chosen as both parties used primarily air power and air defence against each other.

The study resulted in a definition of indirect effects that can be used to describe the effects of air defence operations. The case study showed that the indirect effect of the air defence were important for the progression of the conflict and ultimately may have delayed Milosevic's capitulation.